ALAMOSA, CO - The Trinidad State Cross Country teams got their season underway at the Cattails Golf Course in sunny Alamosa Saturday morning at the 30th running of the Joe I. Vigil Open. The Trojan harriers have opened their season at this event every year since the program was restarted in 2016, but the 2023 version was the hottest start the squads have likely ever seen.
The starters pistol fired at 8:45am to get the men's 8,000 meter race underway. The Trojan runners jumped straight into the lead pack of athletes despite most of the pack being accomplished athletes from Adams State University. "Our men wanted to get right into racing from the very beginning. They're a tough group and they're going to let people know they're ready to battle from start to finish," said Coach Lauren Masterson. Battle they did. Sophomores Kidus Misgina, Hanibale Haile, Vincent Kipchirchir, Kameron Eustace, Kyle Awelagte and Ayub Sayid were all amongst the early lead pack with teammate Daniel Recio stalking them ten meters behind. As the race progressed the field of athletes stretched out, but the Trojans remained near the front. Misgina slowly started moving past tiring Adams State athletes over the last mile. With 200 meters remaining he was in 3rd place, but a hard charge in the final straightaway brought him into second place by the finish. Kipchirchir and Haile could be seen encouraging each other over the final sections of the race before finishing in 10th and 11th place respectively. Eustace and Recio were the next Trojans across the line in 13th and 14th place. Awelagte placed 23rd, Ayub Sayid 28th, Collin Moore 26th, Hakiim Hassan 45th and Gavin Gishi 49th.
Misgina's 2nd place finish is the highest placing at the Vigil event a Trinidad State individual has notched. His time is also the fastest Trojan ever. The Trinidad men scored 44 points and finished in second place as a team; ahead of Fort Lewis College (83 points) and behind winner Adams State University (19 points). Currently ranked 3rd in the NJCAA the Trojan men raised a lot of eyebrows in the season opener. They will look to continue to impress as the season goes on.
If the men's race set the tone for the day the women's race brought it to a crescendo. For the last four consecutive years of the Vigil Open the Adams State women have perfect scored, finishing all their scoring runners before a runner from another team has finished. That trend would have been expected to continue, but 2023 and Trojan sophomore Alliyah Molina would put a stop to that run. A host of Trojans followed Molina to a great performance the first time out.
Molina slid into a small pack of runners just seconds behind the sole leader for the first half of the race. Freshmen Shania Chavez was not far behind in the middle of the pack. As the race progressed Molina began to move past other runners. With 150 meters left in the race Molina sprinted from fifth place to fourth. Chavez finished strongly in her first collegiate race at 27th place. Carli Valdez finished 32nd with Megan Garrett and McKenna Guymon close behind in 33rd and 34th.
Coach Masterson praised the Trojans, "The ladies had a great start to the season. Alliyah ran faster than any of our ladies has ever run on this course. All of our ladies competed very well in our first race of the season." The Trojans fell to Fort Lewis and the victors, Adams State. Trinidad State is currently ranked 12th in the NJCAA.
Both squads will be back in action on the 28th and 29th of September when they will race at the Chile Pepper XC Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas and HU XC Jam in Las Vegas, New Mexico.